Prognostic Value of Subcarinal Lymph Nodes in Minimally Invasive Esophagectomy for Cancer.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Surgical resection for esophageal cancer has remained the gold-standard therapy provided worldwide. Subcarinal lymph-nodes are classified as peri-esophageal nodes and their dissection may be performed during a 2- or 3-stage esophagectomy. The necessity and prognostic value of subcarinal lymphadenectomy is still debatable. The purpose of this study was to investigate the rate of invaded subcarinal lymph-nodes out of the total lymph-nodes resected. Detection of invaded nodes was correlated with clinical staging and tumor differentiation.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

This is a retrospective analysis of consecutive esophagectomies for cancer, performed in a UK tertiary center. The study was conducted over a 3-year period.

RESULTS

The rate of subcarinal lymph-node invasion was extremely low according to the results of our analysis.

CONCLUSION

Lymphadenectomy is not devoid of clinical impact on patients and therefore, the decision should actually be the outcome of a dynamic balance between complications and survival benefit.